


Making Opportunities

by blueskypenguin



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Episode: s05e08 Changing Channels, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-18
Updated: 2010-02-18
Packaged: 2017-12-12 18:59:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,392
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/814909
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blueskypenguin/pseuds/blueskypenguin
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i>Sam forced himself not to look back, all the way to the Impala.</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Opportunities

Sam forced himself not to look back, all the way to the Impala. Dean was pissed, Castiel looked a little lost and Sam felt ...a little guilty, actually.

Which made no sense, because he was hardly the bad guy here.

Hand on the door, he saw Dean was about to say something, and he was certain he didn’t want to hear it. “You go on ahead. I’m gonna go back inside.”

“What – Sam! After everything I - He just told you he wants you to be the devil’s meatsuit!“

“Yeah, Dean,” Sam said firmly. “But we might need his help, and leaving things like this won’t do us any favours in the long run. I’ll meet you back at the motel.”

“Fine, but if you’re not back soon, I’m coming back with a sword,” Dean slammed the door when he got into the car, and as Castiel slipped into the back seat, he looked at Sam with something close to approval.

Sam’s hand hesitated a little on the door of the warehouse, but reminded himself that if they could get an archangel on side, things could go their way for a change. He pulled open the door and walked in.

The Trickster - _Gabriel_ \- was gone.

“Great,” spat Sam, walking into the warehouse, the splashing of his footsteps echoing in the empty space . They’d been outside a minute at most, and Gabriel had already taken off, the holy oil a slick in a large puddle.

The warehouse door clanged and Sam spun to find Gabriel leaning against it, his posture nonchalant but his face blank. “You honestly expected me to hang around after Deano’s little tirade?”

“Well, you’re here aren’t you?” he sniped.

“I was curious,” Gabriel shrugged. He pushed himself away from the door. “Is it your turn next? Because I noticed you were pretty quiet there, Sammy, and you must have a few choice words built up by now.”

Sam had thought many times over the years what he’d do given half a chance should he set eyes on the Trickster again, but it seemed …unimportant in the grand scheme of things now. “It doesn’t matter, Gabriel.”

He snorted softly, but it wasn’t an amused sound. "D'you know until today, no-one had called me by my name for thousands of years?”

“Was hiding that important to you?” Sam asked, shoving his hands into his pockets.

“I didn’t set out to hide, Sam. I set out to _run_ ,” he walked forward, past Sam, kicking water up around him. He suddenly turned, stalking at Sam until their faces were barely inches apart and he was prodding at Sam’s chest angrily. “Why couldn’t you have just listened? Why couldn’t you have just let Dean go?”

“I was trying - I was dealing - and I put my trust in the wrong people, alright!” Sam slapped Gabriel’s hand away, “I made a mistake, don’t think I don’t know that.”

“Dealing?” Gabriel scoffed, taking a step back as he realised just how close he was. “You were a drunken mess, I’m amazed you stayed alive as long as you did before _she_ came on the scene.”

“How do you even know that?”

Gabriel rolled his eyes, unashamed. “Excuse me for having a vested interest in your life. I knew as soon as I set eyes on the two of you what you were.”

“Then why didn’t you say anything!” Sam exploded. “That’s all it would have taken! A quick, ‘by the way, kids, don’t go killing Lilith because that’ll start the apocalypse and the two big hitters want your skins to fight on this plane of existence’!”

He smirked, and finally seemed genuinely amused. “Because that’s a bit of a mouthful?” Sam tried to curb his own inappropriate smile. “Because,” Gabriel offered with a little more sobriety, “I didn’t think it would get this far. Because if you suddenly acquired all of this information about the Host and their plans for you, it would eventually trace back to me and I didn’t want any of this shit at my doorstep.”

“I’d say sorry, but you tricked us. You must have known that with Cas around we’d figure you out eventually,” Sam shrugged. “Regardless of duct-tape.”

“You were pre-law, not pre-med,” he groused, “Stop trying to psychoanalyse me.”

“You’re an archangel,” Sam pointed out, and it was finally starting to sink in what that meant. Gabriel visibly reacted to the word, pulling himself out of his usual relaxed stance into something tenser, something ready. Sam wondered if Gabriel was getting ready to run or if it was him donning the persona of the archangel he used to be. “I don’t think human psychology applies.”

Gabriel nodded, “And you’d be right.” He ran a hand through his hair, rubbing the back of his neck. “It wasn’t all bad, you know. Sure, it got pretty crappy towards the end, and after the Morningstar fell it was worse, but it used to be so... good, happy,” he ended softly, holding Sam’s gaze intently. He smiled wryly. “You could even say it was heaven.”

“Funny,” Sam rolled his eyes.

“I don’t want to see Michael and Lucifer fighting again,” he said frankly, the truth seeming to echo in the warehouse. “But I sure as hell don’t want the world ripped to pieces while I wait.”

Sam frowned. “You know that whichever side wins, you can’t hide anymore. We’re offering you a third option.”

“Oh, you three have no idea what you’re doing,” Gabriel shook his head, but it wasn’t as scathing as Sam thought it would have been.

“But we’re not going to say ‘yes’,” he swore, hoping it was a promise he could keep. “If we can seal Lucifer away again, even kill him, then the other angels don’t get their big showdown and leave the world alone. You can go back to being whatever you want. And if Castiel finds God-“

He sighed sadly, “Castiel is working on blind faith. You think I haven’t been to every corner of this planet at one time or another? If there was even a trace of my Father’s presence that wasn’t just remnants of Creation, I’d have found it – I’d have found Him.”

“Not if He didn’t want to be found,” Sam challenged. “You could help him, you know what to look for.”

“Sam,” Gabriel shook his head, tired and he looked away.

Sam stepped towards him, pleading, “Gabriel, please. If you won’t help me and Dean, then at least help Castiel. He’s getting weaker and he needs this, he needs his faith. You’re his family, that means something to you still.”

“Low blow, Sammy,” he said darkly, taking a step back as though he’d been physically struck, although Sam realized that he wasn’t likely to be able to hurt or push Gabriel if he didn’t want him to.

“Desperate times,” Sam shrugged. “Why do you know so much about me?”

Gabriel’s face went carefully blank, disinterested, “Like I said, I had a vested interest in what happened to you.”

“I don’t buy that,” he replied honestly, “But I guess I’ll take it for now. Listen, I’m gonna,” he pointed back at the door. “Just think about it, alright?”

After a long moment, Gabriel drew himself up, and a slight change in the air suggested to Sam that the archangel was shifting his wings. He hadn’t even though about it until now, but Gabriel must have _wings_. “Tell Castiel I’ll catch up with him in a few days,” he said slowly. “I’ll see what I can find and I _might_ ,” he emphasized, “help.”

Sam grinned, “Thanks, Gabriel.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes, but a genuine smile threatened to break over his face with the slight twitching of his lips, and Sam eventually turned for the door.

“Oh, Sammy,” and that was every inch the Trickster Sam remembered, and he turned back to the smirking, slouching Gabriel, “I’ve got a faster way than walking.”

The click rang in Sam’s ears as he found himself in front of the motel, just as Dean and Castiel pulled up in the Impala. Sam’s cell phone rang in his pocket, and he dug in his pocket to answer it as his brother stormed out of the car. “Hey Chuck,” he greeted the prophet on the other end of the phone, wondering if this was the lucky break they’d been waiting for.

\--


End file.
